A health and happiness blog, packed full of natural pick me ups

Triyoga Camden, the highs and the lows

The new Triyoga Camden studio opened in December last year. The offer: 30 days unlimited classes at £40 for new members. This is what I loved and definitely did not love about my month at Triyoga Camden [hate is a word I prefer not to use].

Feeling the love…

Think upmarket hippy chic – if you are into Buddha statues and incense you will feel at home here. The four ample sized studios are well-equipped with good quality, clean yoga mats, straps, blocks and blankets.

Trying new things – the range of classes and different styles of yoga [and Pilates] on offer is impressive.

Triyoga hot with Genny Wilkingson Priest – one of the best yoga classes I have been to in my life. Triyoga hot is based on the Tapasya method, and asana sequences are practiced in a warm studio heated to 36-38˚C by far infra-red waves. The far infra-red waves mean the body rather than the room is heated, facilitating safe, deep stretching and a detoxifying sweat. This is no bikram yoga class. My muscles felt amazing after and I was buzzing with positivity.

The shopselling all things boho-beautiful. Aromatherapy candles galore and organic skincare ranges such as Ren. Triyoga also do their own inspiring range of essential oil blends – Confidence and Abundance are two of my faves. There is a well-picked handful of books and music compilations to complement your yoga practice and a useful selection of yoga gear in case you forget your leggings.

The far infra-red sauna. A winter saviour for cold Camdenites. Good place to warm your bones up and mingle with other spiritual types and yogis. No bikinis allowed, this is a clothes-on job. There are also six treatments rooms if you fancy a massage or some reiki.

Feldenkrais for yoga with Daniel Gelblum. I had not heard about the Feldenkrais method until trying Dan’s class. Dan was introduced to the Feldenkrais method through his father, who attended classes in Israel in the 1950’s with the founder – Dr Moshe Feldenkrais. The Feldenkrais method is a scientific way of learning movement, focusing on awareness, mindful movement, posture and breathing to foster enhanced functioning. Dan’s free-flowing, experimental class encouraged the easing into postures through repetitive, gentle movements.

When lying on the back with knees bent we repeated the simple act of pushing our feet into the ground – it was awakening to experience the positive effects this has on the pelvis and lower back. The result – my body felt as if it had been rolled out flat like a pancake and my legs had grown about five inches.

This is what I definitely did not love…

To put things into context the usual price for unlimited classes at Triyoga Camden is £99 per month unlimited classes or £16 per class, so not exactly cheap.

Packed-out classes – I understand the concept of the more the merrier but I am sure I wasn’t the only one struggling to find my Zen in some of the packed-to-the-walls classes I attended. The start of these classes was stressful – it is not nice when you are in savasana, trying to relax and you have to get up to move your mat four times before the class even starts. The worst was an Iyengar based class where overcrowding combined with mountains of props led to a situation of confusion and chaos throughout.

It’s hard to get centred when you are attempting to move into Warrior 3 and you have the foot from the person in front hovering precariously close to your eye and you can’t use your arms to balance as the available arm space is already in use. Don’t even get me started on the forward bend in hot yoga…

Temperature issues – specifically the freezing cold class in studio 4 when they forgot to turn the radiators on, which coincided with one of the coldest days of the year. Extreme cold + yoga = shivering + muscle cramps.

Sardine-style changing rooms. Trying to do some kind of tree-pose balancing act to get your jeans back on. Unnecessary. At peak-times the changing rooms could be lethal, it was every woman for herself in the rush to the showers after hot yoga. Four showers in the ladies changing room is not enough. Other unfortunate incidences included the showers flooding into the changing area [wet socks] and cold showers.

I am grateful for my time at Triyoga Camden, I enjoyed it a lot – but for the normal price of £99 per month the new Jamestown Road location leaves more to be desired. So for now it’s namaste, bitches.

I’m Ilana, a yoga-loving freelance copywriter and natural health enthusiast based in North London. I have created the Healing Chick blog as a space to celebrate Mother Nature’s offerings and write about all the things I love the most.